Random Ramblings 4.0: Nothing Important Was Lost

Starting out this list of things with a shout-out to one of my cohorts, as today happens to be Nomadotto‘s birthday. Hopefully he’s punching out ungrateful undergrads in celebration, or at least taking a little respite from grad school for this day. And if you remember from when I did this last year, this also happens to be fellow animeblogger Impz‘s birthday. So here’s some cake as always:

More Horo is always good.

Secondly, I’ve had a Twitter for the past couple of months now, so if you want to see some of the random (and usually silly) thoughts on both real life and anime that I have as I go through some days, you can. I’ve found that since you’re relegated to a specific amount of space to type, it makes you more efficient, more adaptable, and more lazy in some ways, more clever in others. It’s fun to people watch and engage in conversations on matters that probably wouldn’t be covered at other times… cept maybe in IRC. And it can provide interesting social experiments in addition to helping me learn more about myself as a person. I didn’t know that being blocked seemingly solely b/c of following someone else would irritate the hell out of me, for example (I thought things were better than that :P).

Next, on Saturday, I caught some of the second day of Anime USA. By “some”, I mean walking around the con in the hotel, going to the Artist Alley and Dealer’s Room (which was well organized IMO), and wondering whether or not I should have gone to the Applegeeks table and shake hands with the creators (I was too nervous to do so). I spent most of the time at the site at the Dealer’s Room, where I picked up stuff like the Kamichu! and BIG O (both season) boxets and the Princess Nine OST, and briefly glancing at some cosplay (I figured that staring and people watching was too creepy to do), which was well done (I think wildarmsheero would have liked a Cardcaptor Sakura that was walking around). All I was looking to do was go to a FUNimation panel and do some karaoke, but I missed out on both of those.

Yet I didn’t mind missing them at all, because instead, the time was spent chilling outside of the con with some acquaintances. Randomly running into someone I knew at the con who was waiting for someone else, I tagged along for some lunch with a couple of other people I know (including a fellow animeblogger most people know) and just hanging out at a nearby Starbucks (because they are always nearby). Though I spent $50 for weekend registration of a con that I only spent 2.5 hours in tops for one day, I felt that it was still worthwhile, since once you get past all of the things the con holds, the experience isn’t as fun at all if you don’t have anyone to share it with. I think Anime USA was well run, and set up well, but the panels listed weren’t too interesting to me, and I can only play video games so much or wait for karaoke to start without anyone else I know doing it as well. Even more proof that for me, con experiences aren’t quite as fun without someone to share them with. That being said, I would gladly come again in the future, since it’s only a subway ride aways~

Resting on your laurels can only get you so far.

Finally, in terms of my impressions so far of the fall season, so far my picks of Hyakko and Kannagi still make me feel good, Toradora and To Aru Majutsu no Index have been pleasant surprises, ef and CLANNAD have been more of the same (which I like) and I still haven’t checked out many of the other things out there. There still hasn’t been anything new that’s grabbed me this year like Manabi Straight or Hidamari Sketch (x365 is just an awesome continuation :P), but things have been pretty entertaining so far. Hopefully it can continue. :3